Top Comics Movies

I recently saw this list over on AOL about what they considered the best fifteen comic book movies. I agreed with most of it, but, eh, I might as well do my own seeing as I have worked in, and around, the comic industry for 21 years, and was almost in a comic based movie once. (Stupid change of rights… I won’t go into which movie it was, and it still irks me, I was going to have a really bloody death!)

In no particular order, other than alphabetical:

Batman Begins – While I enjoyed the two Tim Burton films (I try to ignore the other two), I really felt they didn’t capture the vibe of Batman as much as they captured the sensibilities of Tim Burton. Batman Begins is much, much closer to how I view the Dark Knight. This is a man of many levels, many personal demons, and while he does good, he is not sane. Fantastic film, and I am anxious for the sequel.

Blade – Vampire movies are, by nature, usually cool. Add in a bad ass half-vampire, cool weapons, kicking techno music, and you can ALMOST ignore the huge plot hole in the final battle. (they needed a representative of all twelve tribes, you killed one off *cough*) A lot of fun, and the two follow-ups weren’t horrible.

Hellboy – Ron Perlman… poor guy is so odd looking, he always gets hidden under make-up it seems, but he can act. Great story, didn’t skimp on the occultish aspects of the mythology, and was visually pleasing. Was a good romp.

Sin City – A shot-for-shot “retelling” of the books. Proves to Hollywood you don’t HAVE to change things from comic-to-screen to make it work. Excellent film, gorgeous to look at, well acted, brilliantly casted, and amazing when you compare it to the original work.

Spider-Man – Spider-Man is one of those characters you can easily write off as a one dimensional character, but director Sam Raimi really captured that Peter Parker’s powers just enhances the trials of growing up. And, as one of the most famous comic lines ever written says, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Excellent film, and the follow-up was just as good.

Superman – I am not a huge fan of the character of Superman. After this many years, I feel they’ve done everything they can with the character, and he is honestly just too powerful to be that interesting. I would have liked to have seen Lex Luthor handled a bit better, but oh well. It was a solid film, well told, and did a good job of bringing across the character. The second film was also fantastic… three and four don’t exist as far as I’m concerned. (And no, I haven’t seen Retruns yet.)Tank Girl – Odd, quirky, clearly not for every one’s tastes. Very off-color humor, but a lot of fun.

V For Vendetta – I have raved about this film numerous times, and I still do. It is one of the few times I feel Hollywood changing things a lot worked. They made it a tighter, more coherent film. Add on top of everything else it had a strong statement about government, it was well done.

X-Men – It captured the essence of the X-Men and their rich history. Yes, there were a lot of changes, and the strange awkwardness of the Wolverine/Rogue attraction, but the allegory of accepting your fellow man, no matter how different, came shining through.